Old Friends Again

. . . though these are not from as long ago as some of those we've seen in the last six weeks. These are friends from our Baytown days, so our friendship dates from fifteen or twenty years ago.

When Diana lived down the street from us, her two older kids were little bitty and darling; they are now teenagers and just as darling. And now there's another darling kid, though he had fallen asleep by the time we took this photo, and so did not pose. His friend was happy to take his place, though!

 It was such fun to see have Diana and family here, and we felt honored that Alci- Lou happened to be in town on a weekend trip home from college, and also that Eddie was able to join us -- they are both delightful young people.

 Pat, another old Baytown friend, rounded out the party -- and, of course, his excellent dog Captain (here apparently staring down Annie, keeping her off of her porch).

And an old photo of Diana with young Nicholas, asleep here as well. Diana's smile tells all about her joie de vivre -- she always makes me smile and laugh.

More from California Trip: Google

My second trip to the Google campus. Nathan was once again a good tour guide.

One of many, many "extracurricular" activities offered by Google for its employees during the work day. One could spend the entire day taking part in such activities; Nathan noted that most employees do figure out that such indulgence in non-work activities is not conducive to career advancement (or even job retention). But how much healthier, when one is fading, to indulge in a 20-minute workout rather than a coffee-and-sweet-thing break. 

 We ate our lunch at one of these pleasant tables.

It was great to see the two of them clearly happy, though a bit anxious about their impending parenthood.

Mike's Wedding

The night before Byron and Doris came, we rode with Kathie, Gene, and Susan (Thank you, Gene, for driving us that long way.) to Cypress for a wedding, that of Mike, son of Bob and Sara. What fun seeing and spending time with the whole family!

Kathie and Bob

The next afternoon, as we sat on the front porch with Byron and Doris, Bob, Sara, Weldon, and Peggy came by and sat with us. Later that evening we met them at Gilhooley's. Again, great to see old friends and family. Not much better. 

Byron and Doris's Visit

Many decades ago, Tom met Byron at Dick's motorcycle shop in Ann Arbor. These three young men, who surely would never have met otherwise, were brought together by their love of motorcycling and dirt-bike racing, and they have remained friends to this day.

I had gone to dinner with Byron and Doris about five years ago when I visited my brother in the Seattle area, where the former had settled about the time that Tom and I married in the late 70's, but Tom hadn't seen them since that long-ago decade. Yet being with them both was easy, as if we had been seeing them regularly since. It was a lovely visit, one that ended the day before I flew to California.

A tasty and relaxing Easter Sunday brunch, consisting of Tom's boudain omelette with fruit dressing, Doris's country-ham-with-red-eye-gravy Danish, mimosas, and coffee.

Once again, Tom had boiled shrimp, a great, stressless (at least for me) solution to the "What-to-have-on-hand-when-guests-come?" dilemma. I think he's figured it out.

A golf-cart ride to Kemah and dinner at Gilhooley's were a couple of the high points, as they have been with other guests. Unlike others, though, Byron and Doris live on an island in the Seattle area, so our watery site is not as amazing to them as it is to some. But they enjoyed it, and so did we.

Air BnB

My first experience with Airbnb was a perfect one:

My bedroom, part of a private suite, all comfortable and elegant and inviting.

VJ's plant-laden back porch.

I was blocks away from Elizabeth and Nathan's apartment, about the same distance as the Hampton where Tom and I had stayed on our other visit, good walking distance, but in a better place, a home, where I met a delightful woman originally from Portugal ("Bom dia.") and enjoyed the coffee she made for me each morning. I spent all day each day away, and really just needed a place to sleep well, and I got it. I saved some money and enjoyed it more. I'm a fan.

Big News

Woo-hoo!

Trip to California

Returning to my hubby, my cat, and my house on Saturday was wonderful, and we have mostly hibernated since, the hibernation mode reinforced by an intermittently rainy, near-constantly cloudy weekend. We did venture out for frozen yogurt and a trip to HEB, the latter trip more fun for us than some might assume (think lots of good samples, access to good, fresh, sushi, and an opportunity for Tom to buy bakery oatmeal cookies).

But the trip to California, to Elizabeth and Nathan and Bauer, was also wonderful, and I am so glad I went. This trip was not that of a tourist, but of a mom, though the exposure to a mountainous, cool, conifer-laden environment was soul-nourishing as well.

Elizabeth's looking good.

Byxbee Park

 . . . a reclaimed landfill on the southern tip of San Francisco Bay, with lots of walking trails and birds and art installations such as this . . .  good place to walk.

Nathan's looking good.

 Downy babies, being led away by Mom from intruding humans.

WRX

 Nathan's new baby.

 Elizabeth's happy for him.

Flowers